Cambridge, MA

September 2017

Maura Kilpatrick first picked up a spatula as a teenager, and never let go of her zeal for cooking. She picked up her formal training across the country from her Boston home at the California Culinary Academy, and after moving back east, working in the kitchens of Boston’s top chefs: Lydia Shire, Moncef Medeb, Rene Michelena, and Ana Sortun.

In 1999, Kilpatrick opened two bakeries, High-Rise Bread Company and High-Rise Pie Company, where some of her original recipes are still used today. She and Sortun reunited in 2001 to develop the concept for Oleana, and Kilpatrick fell in love with the flavors and spices of the Mediterranean and Middle East, for which she is now known. In 2008, the duo opened Sofra, a bakery and café inspired by the cuisines of Turkey, Lebanon, and Greece. As executive pastry chef and owner, Kilpatrick’s use of ingredients, like orange blossoms, rose petals, kaymek, and kadayifi, have earned her pastries a cult following.

Kilpatrick has been named “Boston’s Best Pastry Chef” by Boston Magazine and won a StarChefs Rising Stars award in 2008. Her first cookbook, Soframiz, was released in 2015. Kilpatrick has received James Beard Award nominations for “Outstanding Pastry Chef” and semi-finalist nods every year since 2008.